HUD activates Pay.gov for lender fees

The Housing and Urban Development Department is using Pay.gov as a speedier and more efficient method of collecting fees at the Office of Lender Approval.

Advanced Technology Systems Inc. of McLean, Va., said last month it developed the Pay.gov interface for HUD.

Pay.gov is a governmentwide transaction portal the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service conceived to provide for electronic collections that enable agencies to conduct online business.

Previously, lenders' fees were submitted to HUD via a lockbox at the Bank of America in Atlanta, which then processed the fees and transmitted the collections information to HUD every night. The manual process was time-consuming and prone to errors.

Pay.gov will reduce costs for HUD, because Treasury provides these transaction services free of charge. HUD paid Bank of America for its lockbox services and a fee per keystroke of data entry. HUD anticipates saving one dollar for every form and collection authorization received in electronic format.